The COVID‐19 pandemic and associated public health and social distancing mandates caused unprecedented shifts and disruptions for local and regional food systems (LRFS). The pandemic also brought new and heightened attention to the structure and resiliency of US food systems, and LRFS appeared to be positioned to significantly increase the scope and scale of their market reach as a result. Researchers from three universities collaborated with staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service to recruit leaders from sixteen key coalitions within the U.S. LRFS sector to frame an adaptive, community‐driven set of applied research activities to understand important themes, learn from effective responses and gain insights into how local and regional supply chains may change post‐pandemic. In this paper, we summarise urgent and emergent strategies and innovations from LRFS captured in a fall 2020 consumer survey, with additional insights on how the survey was framed and interpreted, considering synthesis of collaborative discussions and project team interactions. We conclude the article with a set of research, policy and technical assistance priorities that were identified and validated by this LRFS network.

The demand to produce high-yielding crops grows exponentially with the ever-expanding world population, and with this comes the obligation to examine the actual impact that these crops will have in areas with the most need. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, cannot support many of the otherwise staple agricultural crops due to climatic limitations. Sorghum, a heat-tolerant and drought-hearty grain source, is used as a primary cereal crop in regions of sub-Saharan Africa. However, sorghum grain is known to have a signifi cantly lower protein digestibility rate compared to other common cereal grains. Cooked sorghum, in particular, has decreased levels of protein digestibility, rendering it less nutritionally effective, which is a serious concern in parts of the world that depend on sorghum grain as a primary source of protein and calories. The nutritional content that sorghum currently provides is inadequate, meaning that higher yields, though important, cannot be the sole aim of our agronomic research. Identifying and modifying the genes that infl uence sorghum protein digestibility would have a lasting impact on the millions of people who rely on sorghum nutritionally and economically. This study explored the genetic infl uences of sorghum proteins using a basic digestibility assay to screen thousands of sorghum mutants in search of those with high protein digestibility.

No abstract

No abstract